Who are the owners of Swiss Argentina?

The audios of Diego Spagnuolo, recently fired as head of the National Disability Agency (Andis), denounced the alleged payment of bribes in the agency he directed, and derived this Friday in 14 raids.

Emmanuel Kovalivkerone of the shareholders of Swiss Argentinawas intercepted in Nordelta with envelopes that had around US $ 260,000 and $ 7 million. Who are behind the drugstore?

The drugstore was founded in 1923 in La Plata and its activity is the marketing and distribution of medicines and medical supplies. Then they extended to other provinces such as Tucumán, San Luis, Córdoba. In 2019 they created Pharmaonline. The drugstore is one of the main suppliers of medicines and medical supplies in the country.

According to data from the General Inspection of Justice, the company was registered as a company for shares on September 26, 2011, and among the authorities are: Eduardo Jorge Kovalivker, Jonathan Simón Kovalivker, Emmanuel Kovalivker, Néstor Osvaldo Kovalivker, León Kovalivker and Marcos Paul Kovalivker. They are also authorities: José Gil Bandin, Juan Francisco Gil Vázquez, José Pablo Gil Vázquez, Diego Gerardo Vaterner, Lezaro Muchenik, Claudio Néstor Pasmanik, and Pablo Ariel Venner.

In the company’s network, Emmanuel Kovalivker He serves as a minority shareholder of the Argentine Swiss drugstore, with 0.015% of the share capital, Eduardo Jorge KovalivkerEmmanuel’s father, concentrates 64.5% of the drugstore, while his brother Jonathan Simon Kovalivker It has more than 21% and exercises the presidency. The family has properties in Nordelta and in the exclusive area of ​​La Barra, in Punta del Este, as transcended in the media.

The drugstore not only does business with this government. In 2020, the company made an agreement with the then governor of Tucumán, Juan Manzurto build in the province one of its storage and logistics plants in exchange for tax benefits, according to the newspaper La Nación. The drugstore was exempt from paying gross income for five years as a counterpart of an investment close to $ 400 million to install a deposit that would work as a center for distribution of drugs for pharmacies, hospitals and sanatoriums.

Other businesses

The group also advanced in other items such as animal nutrition and aesthetics. Meanwhile, Jonathan Kovalivker and his wife, María Ivonne Senac, created an event company in Cafayate, Salta, dedicated to the purchase, sale and rental of automotive.

In mid -2024 Jonathan also created another society to carry out activities related to the agricultural, technological, finance and energy. According to the media, the day closing day in the 2023 elections, this businessman played the Paddle at the World Paddle Center in Nordelta with Macri and Lisandro Borges, CEO of that closed neighborhood.

Another complaint to the Argentine Swiss

In August of last year, lawyer Alejandro Díaz Pascual, of the Civil Association “Social Arc”, filed a criminal complaint for an alleged hiring of the National Disability Agency with the drugstore. This presentation included Spagnuolo, as head of Andis; To the Kovalivker family and Martín and Eduardo Menem.

According to the complaint, purchases were made around $ 30,000 million without public tender. The Farmaonline company markets the products of Peoplech Argentina SA, which has Martín Menem among its partners.

The case was closed by federal prosecutor Carlos Rívolo, and it was established that the hiring had been lawful.

Show off

In the first year of Javier Milei government The pharmaceutical industry was one of the winners. The industry consists of large local and foreign businesses such as Bayer, Pfizer, Astrazeneca, Elea, Roemmers, Gador, Bagó, among others.

During 2024, the Argentine pharmaceutical sector experienced a strong increase in its profitability thanks to the pricing implemented by the Government (DNU 70/2023) that allowed laboratories to adjust the values ​​of unrestricted medications, which resulted in significant increases. In addition, while the government decreased tariffs for several sectors, “the pharmacist was not included in these measures, maintaining a cost structure that favored the companies established in the country,” warned a report from the Institute of Thought and Public Policies.

The drug and vaccine production industry, supplies production and medical technology profit from health. It is necessary to fight for the liberation of patents. Knowledge and scientific development are a good that must be at the service of humanity, and not to enrich a handful of multinationals. For public, state production and under control of the workers of inputs and medicines.